Chapter Fifteen

Broken

Walter’s decline came quickly. The moments of confusion got longer and longer. He started
forgetting things he had done just a few hours earlier. The details of his business slipped
away from him, and managing work became complicated in ways he couldn’t understand,
which depressed him. At some point I went over his records with him, and he’d been selling
things at a fraction of their worth and losing a lot of money.
A film crew from Ireland came to Alabama to make a short documentary about the death
penalty that would feature Walter’s case and the cases of two other Alabama death row
prisoners. James “Bo” Cochran had been released after spending nearly twenty years on
Alabama’s death row; a new trial was awarded after federal courts reversed his conviction
because of racial bias during jury selection. At his new trial, a racially diverse jury found him
not guilty of murder, and he was freed. The third man featured in the film, Robert Tarver,
also adamantly maintained his innocence. The prosecutor later admitted that his jury had
been illegally selected in a racially discriminatory manner, but courts refused to review the
claim because the defense lawyer failed to make an adequate objection, so Tarver was
executed.
We hosted a premiere of the film at our office, and I invited Walter and Bo to address the
audience. About seventy-five people from the community gathered in EJI’s meeting room,
where we screened the film. Walter struggled. He was more terse than usual and looked at me
frantically whenever someone asked him a question. I told him that he wouldn’t have to do
any more presentations. His sister told me that he’d started wandering in the evenings and
getting lost. He began drinking heavily, something he’d never done before. He told me that he
was anxious all the time and that the alcohol calmed his nerves. Then one day he collapsed.
He was at a hospital in Mobile when they reached me in Montgomery. I drove down to speak
with his doctor, who told me that Walter had advancing dementia, likely trauma-induced,
and that he would need constant care. The doctor also said the dementia would progress and
that Walter would likely become incapacitated.
We met with Walter’s family at our office and agreed that he should move to Huntsville to
live with a relative who could provide consistent care. It worked for a while, but Walter